Gymboree

After a few months hiatus, we finally returned to the Gymboree during free play time. It was great! Natalie's friends Summer and Max were there as well. Below are a few pics:

Natalie warming up. She sat here for five minutes watching the other toddlers play before joining in.


And then she was climbing and playing and exploring on all the equipment.


She jumped on the trampoline.


She climbed up and down on a rocker (she did this a few times).


She slam-dunked some balls.


Although the basket was only 2 feet off the ground :)

All in all, we had a great time!

Yay!

More ABC's

Here is another Video 237 of Natalie singing the ABC's. She has improved her singing (there's actually different tones now!) and knows almost the complete alphabet by herself. The only thing is, sometimes she still mixes the letters around. Also, you can see she's a cheeky monkey now!

Elmo Love

Natalie received this new Elmo doll from Uncle Hanh who was visiting from New York.

Natalie's eyes became super wide when she saw it for the first time and, since "Ba-ba Elmo" arrived (that's her name for this Elmo because he's bigger than all of her Elmo dolls), he has become her definite all-time favourite. Not only does she exclusively sleep with him (before she used to choose from among 4 or 5 different other Elmos and bears), but she also hugs him when she watches Elmo's World and plays with him even when not sleeping.

Natalie is focused and intent while watching Elmo's World.

She still only gets a few minutes of tv a day and loves every minute of it.

We think she likes this Elmo better because he looks like the "real" Elmo (fuzzy hair).

I love dancing, Mommy

This morning, Natalie told me to wake up. As I was trying to open my eyes, I saw her moving her arms beside me and suddenly, she said, "Ah love danshing, mom-mee!" (I love dancing). It was really cute!

See Video 236 of Natalie dancing on the toilet. When asked what she's doing, she proudly says that she's pooing and dancing! Later, she tries to tell me she's making circles but when I ask if she's saying "soccer", she kindly agrees and adds "soccer ball". Very considerate :)

Ethan

Natalie loves hanging out and playing with her friend Ethan. She's become much more interactive with other children. See Video 235 of Natalie putting cream on Ethan's face. He has the cutest giggle! Also, she's learned to say "stop it" from Ethan and says it all the time now.

Also, below are photos from their visit to the park recently.

Here is Ethan climbing up on the park equipment. He's a good climber!


While Ethan was busy exploring the park, Natalie was busy blowing bubbles.


She can dip the wand into the soap herself.


And blow a stream of bubbles out.

It's her favourite thing to do at the park.

Later, Ethan wanders over to check out the bubble-making.

Natalie kindly offers Ethan her wand to blow some bubbles of his own.

It's so cute to watch them playing together.

Ethan gives Natalie a pat on the arm to say thank you and wanders off. He much more interested in running around and exploring the equipment.

In order for Natalie to get some exercise, we take away her bubbles and put them on the side. She climbs up the stairs and does her second favourite thing... hanging and swinging like a monkey.

She can swing really high now. She swings until she's almost upside-down!

Natalie is amazed by something else she sees...

It's Ethan hanging like a monkey... by himself!

He was so strong and could hold for several seconds without holding on to anyone.

Good job, Ethan!

Natalie also discovered a new way to go down the slide... on her belly!

She and Ethan were sooo cute together!


Here they are sitting together at the bottom of the slide.

Later, Ethan discovers how fun it is to play with a stationary, blue, metal bar. He pulls and tugs on it, but for some reason, it doesn't move at all.

Natalie comes by to spend some time with her friend.

And while there, she decides to take a break using the blue bar as a convenient seat. It's the perfect height for her short legs.

Ethan, tired from trying to move the bar decides to take a break, too.

So they sit together for a while.

Uh oh... until Ethan falls and gets stuck! Help!

Ethan is quickly rescued.

You can see it was a really hot day (but not too sunny). Natalie and Ethan were sweating.

Later, when it's time to leave, Natalie goes to Ethan and takes his hand to lead him out of the park. Awww...

Coordination

Natalie is getting way more coordinated. We are teaching her to take off her own shoes and to put on her pants.

Video 233 - Watch Natalie putting on her pants by herself.

Video 234 - Also, watch Natalie walk backwards. She also tells on us by excitingly saying that we're taking her to McDonald's. Can you guess what she asks us to buy for her from McDee's?

Eating an apple whole

As Natalie grows older, it is becoming easier and easier to care for her. As a baby, we had to blend her food before she could it eat (eg. apple sauce). Later, we had to cut them up into bite-sized pieces (eg. apple cubes). And even later, we had to cut them up into hand-sized pieces she could hold in her hand (eg. apple slices). Now that's she two, she can eat an apple whole (without the skin). Here she is enjoying Elmo and nibbling on an apple.

We've recently started allowing Natalie to watch more TV. Her favourite show is still, of course, Elmo!


Natalie took a big bite of the apple and studied it.


Can you see the small dent in the apple she created?


Yummy! More apple!

Next time, I think we should just sit her in her highchair. She was too easily distracted from eating by Elmo.

Monster and Blocks

Video 231 - Instead of being scared when Clark and I pretend to be monsters, Natalie becomes one, too! Listen and watch her pretending to be a monster and making monster sounds.

Video 232 - We recently bought a box of blocks from Toys R' Us and Natalie is learning to recognize shapes and to sort them. Here she is playing (in her own way) with the blocks.

Chopsticks

Lately, in true chinese fashion, we have been teaching Natalie to use chopsticks. She can open and close the trainer-chopsticks we got for her and can scoop up noodles by herself. It's a start! Check out her chopstick skills in Video 230.

Natalie concentrating on getting those noodles.


Mmm... yummy in my tummy!


She's a fast learner and she loves trying new things :)

Also, Natalie looks very tan from all the outdoor swimming we've been doing in the bright sun this week!

Chubby?

We took some pics of Natalie hanging at home yesterday and we can't help but wonder: Is Natalie becoming... chubby? She is a very good eater and she's always been a bit "bigger boned" than other kids (takes after her daddy), but we honestly thought she had lost her baby fat and was becoming slimmer. Now, we're not so sure!

Check out Nat's double chin and full cheeks. No photoshop, honest.


The baby fat is really cute though!


She looks slimmer from certain angles :)

The little swimmer that could...

Natalie LOVES to swim! Recently, she reached a big milestone... swimming with only her arm floaties and without a death grip around her mommy or daddy's neck.

On Monday, we took Natalie for a quick dip in the outdoor pool at Harbour Green and she happily learned to kick and paddle to propel herself in the direction she wanted to go without holding onto us.

Video 228 - Watch Natalie as she swims (without holding her mommy or daddy) in the water with only her arm floaties.

Video 229 - Watch the underwater shots of Natalie's amazing swimming ability. She's learned to kick and paddle her arms.

Natalie examining a styrofoam swim toy lent to us by Carol yee-yee. It was a good prop (goal) for her to swim to.


Natalie happy and relaxed with her daddy in the pool.